Maputo, 8 Jun (AIM) – President Filipe Nyusi declared on 7 June that he would like to sign the definitive peace agreement with the opposition party Renamo in the central district of Gorongosa.

Speaking in Maputo at a gala dinner at the end of the first day of an International Conference on Nature-based Tourism, President Nyusi said “one of my dreams was to sign the peace agreement in Gorongosa”.

The current coordinator of Renamo, Ossufo Momade, is living in a Renamo military base in Gorongosa – the same base where the late Renamo leader, Afonso Dhlakama, died of diabetes on 3 May. The Renamo base is not far from the jewel in Mozambique’s conservation crown, the Gorongosa National Park.

President Nyusi hoped that Gorongosa could also be transformed into “a park for debates”, and stressed that, in addition to peace with Renamo, “we must also have social peace”. The President declared that Mozambicans need nature, and so the country’s conservation areas must be properly maintained and conserved. To this end, he witnessed four agreements, signed by the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, under which US$550 million will be made available for conservation projects.

The largest sum, $500 million comes from the Farquhar Group, represented by its managing director, Paul Milton. Much of this money is intended to build a scientific centre in the southern province of Inhambane for the protection of dugongs. Mozambique has one of the largest surviving populations in the world of this endangered marine mammal.

“One of the government’s concerns has been to protect dugongs, a species which needs our attention, if it is not to go extinct”, said Correia.

This grant will also go towards the fight against poaching in the Limpopo National Park, in the neighbouring province of Gaza, and financing tourist accommodation with 1,500 beds.

The other $50 million takes the form of a line of credit from the country’s largest commercial bank, the Millennium-BIM (International Bank of Mozambique). Mozambican businesses wishing to invest in nature-based tourism may apply for funds from this line of credit, and the interest rates “will be negotiated”, said Correia.

The Minister stressed the government’s interest in “involving the Mozambican private sector in these projects so that it can accompany the foreign investment”.

In addition, an agreement which Correia signed with Werner Myburgh, director of the South Africa-based Peace Parks Foundation, envisaged the construction, within the next year of a conference centre inside one of Mozambique’s conservation areas.

Correia was referring to the Maputo Special Reserve which lies on the road from the Mozambican capital to the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal.

The final agreement, with the United States Carr Foundation, which co-manages the Gorongosa National Park, envisaged an increase of more than 50 per cent in the Foundation’s social responsibility work in the communities in the vicinity of the park.(AIM)

21 September, 2018

Poachers and illegal loggers jailed

The Chigubo district court, in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza, has, over the past three months, sentenced 14 people to jail terms of between 15 days and 12 years for poaching and illegal logging in the Banhine National Park.

19 September, 2018

Government approves water management plan

The Mozambican government on 18 September approved a National Water Resource Management Plan for the next 20 years that will cost an estimated US$28 billion.

18 September, 2018

President Nyusi wants greater visibility for Mozambique Island

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on 17 September urged the residents of Mozambique Island, off the coast of the northern province of Nampula, to join the government initiatives intended to grant greater visibility to the island as a cultural treasure.